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Archive » July / August 2021 » The GameStop case and the new risks of digital investment: the need for a new European protection framework

The GameStop case and the new risks of digital investment: the need for a new European protection framework

M. Antonietta Scopelliti
July / August 2021 - n. 7-8
Keywords: Trading on line, investitori, servizi finanziari
Jel codes: F21, F40

The GameStop affair of January-February 2021 has strongly highlighted a number of new risks: proliferation of intuitive and fee-free trading platforms and apps; business model centered on the «gratuitousness» of the trading service, thanks to the sale of the flow of orders to large Hft operators; margining on short sales and use of leveraged instruments by investors; sensitivity to social pressures and gamification. This phenomenon is accompanied by the growing aggressive marketing activities via email, chat, social, telephone that suggest often illegal investments with exorbitant returns. This creates risks for the protection of investors which have to be faced by new initiatives at European and national level (e.g. on online advertising), technological resources and specialised expertise.

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